About Steve Lambert

Working in mediums that have included objects, performance, and video, Steve Lambert explores advertising and the use of public space, lambasting the commercialism and aggression of the military-industrial complex. Lambert first garnered attention when he collaborated with the Yes Men to produce the New York Times Special Edition (2008), a politically progressive 14-page hoax edition of the newspaper, which announced the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with other idealistic news. Lambert’s commercial signs, which are often ringed with flashing lightbulbs, include cheeky slogans such as “Money Laundered” and “Everything You Want—Right Now!” “I intend what I do to be funny,” he has said, “but at the core of each piece there is also a solemn critique.” He is the founder of the Anti-Advertising Agency, an artist-run initiative that critiques advertising through interventions, and the co-founder of Budget Gallery, which creates exhibitions by painting over outdoor advertisements. His work has been compared to that of Claes Oldenburg.